Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is the film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Morning Edition, as well as the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. He has been a staff writer for the Washington Post and TV Guide, and served as the Times' book review editor.
A graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, he is the co-author of Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke. He teaches film reviewing and non-fiction writing at USC and is on the board of directors of the National Yiddish Book Center. His most recent books are the University of California Press' Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made and Never Coming To A Theater Near You, published by Public Affairs Press.
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Two debuts: 300 is a fierce, stylized retelling of Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. Into Great Silence is a documentary about a French monastery where a vow of silence is observed.
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The film Amazing Grace focuses on William Wilberforce, who led the movement in the British Parliament to abolish slavery. It tells a story of idealism and speaking truth to power.
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The story of FBI spy Robert Hanssen makes for a film that offers a tale of real-life espionage that doubles as a compelling psychological drama. A cast led by Chris Cooper offers a compelling look at the complexities of human relationships.
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The Lives of Others is set in communist East Berlin in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It focuses on a police captain who is forced to put a wire tap on a famous playwright.
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Actor Peter O'Toole is up for an Oscar for his movie role in Venus. But he is also known for his best-actor nod in the 1964 film Becket. That movie has been restored and is back in theaters.
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As the Sundance Film Festival wraps up, several films stand out. Among them are Once, a love story from Ireland and Away from Her, directed by the actress Sarah Polley.
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Dreamgirls is nominated for eight Academy Awards, but not for Best Picture. Babel, which is among five nominees for the top film, earns seven nominations.
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What Guillermo del Toro has accomplished in Pan's Labyrinth cannot easily be put into words. That's because the Mexican-born director is a master creator of images, atmosphere and mood.
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Clint Eastwood continues to astonish. His latest film, Letters from Iwo Jima parallels his recent Flags of Our Fathers, but it takes audiences to a place that would seem unimaginable for an American director.
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Based loosely on the career of Diana Ross and the Supremes, Dreamgirls is alive with the sound of music. It's a love song two times over, a tribute to both a vibrant period of American popular music and the big-budget Hollywood musical.